Unlike search campaigns, campaigns on the content network are fundamentally different in many ways. A lot of new marketers make the fatal mistake of leaving the option in Adwords selected to run their same search campaign on the content network. This is a big no no for many reasons:

1) The adgroup structure for a successful content campaign is very different from search.
2) Keyword matching options in the content network are not used (phrase, exact match have no relevance)
3) Content ads are driven by themes vs search ads that are driven by keyword queries.
4) Keyword insertion (dynamic or static) has no relevance in content ads.
5) Your target audience on the content network is much different (and
much wider) than on search, so therefore a new psychology of ad
writing must be used.

The answer: Separate Content Network Campaigns. Even Google suggests this as the best way to run a successful content campaign: Content Network Optimization Tips.

Ok, so now that we have that out of the way? How else can we optimize our content only campaigns? Well, like search, we must track our performance. This can be done using Google’s performance reports, as well as with a third party tool like Tracking202. (Video Tutorial Coming Soon)

Keep in mind that when tracking performance on the content network, you’ll be tracking adgroups, not keywords. This is a fundamental difference that must not be overlooked. Also, as Google says…you want to focus on conversions, not CTR. A click-thru rate of 0.05% on the content network may seem embarrassingly low compared to search, but performance should be judged based on your conversions and ROI.

Also, once you’ve run a campaign and gathered some data, consider running separate placement targeted campaigns for the sites that are converting for you. You can then custom tailor your bidding and ad writing strategies for these specific sites. A tool I like to use for finding and targeting specific sites in the content network is “Site Sniper Pro” (Free Demo)

You’re tracking reports will also show the sites that have either received lots of clicks or lots of impressions, but without conversions. A word of advice from the start: Turn off social networks, unless that is your target audience. You can now do this from a global setting within your adwords account, or you can manually add the sites as negatives sites in Adwords or with the Adwords Editor.

To turn off social networks, within your Adwords account, click: Campaign Summary > Campaign Name > Site and Category Exclusion. Click Page Types, Select Social Networks.

At a minimum, I hightly suggest you turn off: Myspace.com, Friendster.com, YouTube.com. These are some of the highest traffic sites on the internet with a very click happy demographic. Not excluding these sites can deplete your daily budget in almost no time, especially if you’re bidding on a CPM basis. You can find more sites that you should exclude from your performance reports and add them as you find them.

In another post, I’ll go into how to structure your content campaigns, and even how to gather an initial list of themes to target. Once I have a my campaign created, I like to cast a wide net, then reel em’ in. Meaning, I run the campaign for the entire content network (with a few exclusions). Then once I’ve found what domains, pages, ad copy is working, I can create a placement targeted campaign and go in for the kill.

Way of the Warrior: Tip of the Day: Run your content & search campaigns separately, then gather performance data from Google by creating a weekly scheduled Placement Performance Report for your content only campaigns. Remember, data gathered for the content network may take longer to show than a search campaign.

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Filed under: Adwords Content Network • Conversion Tracking • Tutorials

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